ANATOMY OF A PHOTO: Tudor City Vista

 

Welcome to another edition of Anatomy of a Photo, in which we search for clues in ordinary photographs. Today, we are examining a view of the complex made in 1931. 

A view of the East River properties bordered by The Cloister, The Manor and No. 45. Although their signs are difficult to read, Wilson & Co. and United Dressed Beef represent a sample of what's happening on Slaughter House Row. 

But it's the sign atop a new apartment building on 44th Street that captures our attention: Beaux Arts Apartments. Tudor City was not the only newcomer on the scene.

No. 45 in all of its glory. 

A closer look at the North Park and Middle Park. There is not much in the way of trees yet. Left of center are five umbrellas providing shade on what must be a sun porch of the Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled. The Hotel Tudor is at bottom right with a painted sign ‒ the electric one will come later.

The Woodstock and No. 25.

 

No. 5 offers industrial-chic views. 

Lastly, a blow-up of the tennis courts. The hold-out building that is keeping the plot from being developed can be seen at center right. The tennis office lies to its left.

Even More MISCELLANY

Another collection of items that aren't interesting enough to deserve their own post, but certainly are amusing.  

  

Tudor City Recreation Co. was its official name, but to the passerby on the street it was simply known as the Bowling Alley. As seen in the photo below, it was located in part of the future site of the Pfizer Building. The matchbook is from the collection of our good friend, David Reiff.

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IN BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIP

Harry Conlan, left, of New York,and George Harris, also of New York, are two of the competitors in the Eastern New York Badminton Championships at the Tudor City Courts, New York, Feb. 12th.

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An ad for the Tudor City Coffee House that ran in 1939 in Tudor City View, the community monthly. Why it ran on the diagonal is anyone's guess.

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Finally, a photograph made after a good day fishing by our founder and his son, Theodore. From the French biography, A Vigorous Life: The Story of Fred F. French, Builder of Skyscrapers.

Anatomy of a Photo: The TENNIS COURTS

Beginning a new series, Anatomy of a Photo, taking a close-up look at a single photograph. Today's subject, above, is a bird's eye view of the Tudor City tennis courts, made from a Woodstock apartment window in May, 1935. The photo looks south, with No. 5 at upper left. [The tennis courts are now the site of No. 2].

Zooming in, the building in the center is 8 Prospect Place, the holdout rowhouse that refused to sell to Fred French, thus preventing development of the lot for nearly 30 years. More about it here. The smaller, pitched-roofed structure beside No. 8 is the tennis court office.

Cabs lined up at Tudor City's official taxi stand on the corner of 41st St. and Prospect Place, with the dispatcher's booth next to the street lamp. The Parmelee taxi company had an exclusive contract in the colony. More about Tudor City and taxis here.

Only one tennis court is in use, and its players have attracted a number of spectators, lined up against the fence. More about Tudor City's tennis courts here.

Lost Tudor City: TAXI STAND Edition

Detail from 1930 brochure. The 'private street' was Prospect Place, now Tudor City Place.

Tudor City had its own taxi stand from the beginning, an idea very much in line with Fred French's desire to offer the most modern conveniences. Walking out the door and into a taxi moments later was an amazing thing at the time, the 1927 version of Uber. In 1927, the doormen hailed the cabs from the stand by telephone or by waving flashlights at night.

Located on the northwest corner of 41st Street and Prospect Place, the stand was opposite the community tennis courts (see map at right). The courts were demolished in 1954 and are now home to Tudor Gardens, No. 2.

Parmalee cabs had an exclusive deal for the taxi stand during the 1930s. Their advertising played up their gimmick ‒ retractable glass roofs ‒ which made the taxi's interior feel like it was being "swept by ocean breezes." Even better, the drivers "know all the short cuts around town."

A cab idling opposite the tennis courts in 1945, photo by the Wurts Bros. 
The 3-Hs, Hotel Tudor, Essex House and The Woodstock in the background. 

Another cab in front of No. 5, in a promotional photo illustrating Tudor City's many services.

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No discussion of Tudor City taxis would be complete without mentioning Martin Scorsese's movie, Taxi Driver, and its infamous scene shot in a cab parked alongside No. 25. See our earlier post about the sequence here, and a clip of the scene here. (foul language alert).

Taxi Driver's taxi pulls into the 41st Street cul-de-sac. No. 25 in the background.

Special ICE CREAM Edition

Today, some early cross-promotional advertising pairing Tudor City with Horton's Ice Cream, a premium brand naturally served in the colony, where "only the best will do."

Founded in 1851, Horton's was supplying over half of NYC's ice cream by 1900. But like other small producers, it soon lost ground to bigger, mechanized operations, and eventually was sold to Bordon in 1930. Bordon kept the name and marketed it as a premium ice cream, as shown in these 1939 ads.

Newspaper ad above features the Tudor City tennis courts and coffee shop. The copy reads

There's a Horton Dealer just around your corner who has that same fine ice cream that is served by the finer places in New York. Just name your favorite flavor! And remember. . . Horton's purity and safety are guaranteed! Try some today!

Below, a surreptitious ad disguised as a comic strip. 

8 PROSPECT PLACE

A deep dive into 8 Prospect Place, a long-gone yet very significant building in the history of Tudor City.

8 Prospect Place, around 1927.

A four-story rowhouse constructed in the 1870s, it remains a single-family dwelling for the next fifty years, despite the growing industrialization along the East River that sends the neighborhood into decline and residents fleeing. In 1924, the building is purchased by one Joseph P. Zurla for $27,000.

A year later, Fred French's agents sweep through the area, buying the entire stretch of Prospect Place in preparation for Tudor City ‒ except for No. 8. The agents offer Zurla $50,000 for the property, which he turns down, with subsequent offers up to $120,000 also refused. (Zurla holds out for $150,000, which French refuses to pay). So the larger lot ‒ the current site of No. 2 ‒ remains undeveloped.

Then the Depression hits, and virtually all new construction in Manhattan ceases. The idea of obtaining the property cools. Zurla makes alterations to the house, turning it into seven apartments. Fred French remakes part of the vacant lot into tennis courts, a publicity bonanza, if not a financial one.

Both French and Zurla die in 1936. World War II intervenes, stalling any thought of future development. After the war, the French Company finally purchases the property from Zurla's heirs for a sum "very close to the original purchase price." Prospect Place is renamed Tudor City Place in 1947. The hold-out is demolished around 1954, and the construction of No. 2 begins. It opens in 1956.

Above, 8 Prospect Place in a view looking east, with No. 5 looming behind it. Below, a closer view of the house, circa 1930.

The bright side of the stand-off is that it gives Tudor City tennis courts for 20 years. This eastern view shows the courts, along with No. 5 and hold-out No. 8.

TUDOR CITY in the FORTIES

Some moody images of Tudor City made during the war years.

Sunbathers on the roof of No. 45, open to all Tudor City residents at the time.

A lady walks west down the 42nd Street service road sidewalk. The South Park (and its gazebo) to her left. 

Looking west down 42nd Street at the soon-to-be-replaced tunnel. The spectators at the railing ignore the Chrysler Building for the view of the heavy industry along the river, where a steam plant and the slaughterhouse district were still in operation. 

A bird's-eye view of the South Park from a vantage point in No. 25.

The tennis courts (now the site of No. 2) seen from a window in No. 5.

These pictures were forwarded by resident Garth Justice. Thank you, Garth! Dear readers, be like Garth and share your vintage items with this blog.

Presenting the WURTS BROTHERS

This blog is long overdue in profiling Wurts Bros, the prolific photography studio that left behind an indelible record of Tudor City in the '30s and '40s.

Norman Wurts and his camera in the FiDi, 1937

One of the first studios to specialize in architectural photography, Wurts is founded in 1894 by brothers Norman (the photographer) and Lionel (company manager). Norman uses a large-format view camera and glass plate negatives, which render sharp, detailed images. The brothers quickly establish a loyal clientele of architects, developers and construction companies.

Wurts Bros remains in business until 1979. Today, the Museum of the City of New York is home to their archive of over 45,000 NYC prints and negatives. See them here.

Below, a selection of choice Tudor City images made by Norman Wurts.

Hotel Tudor, 1934.

Westerly view of a streetcar entering the 42nd Street tunnel, 1942.

Aerial shot of the South Park, 1942. Lich gate entrance, upper right corner.

Serving pantry in a one-room apartment, 1941.

Northeast view from a Woodstock window, 1941. Our favorite terra cotta figure, Gary the lion, photobombs the picture just above the windowsill, bottom center.

Tudor City's tennis courts, in a view looking north toward 41st Street, 1943. Essex House and the Prospect Hill Apartments in the background. 

BOBBY RIGGS on the Tudor City Tennis Courts

Over the years, Tudor City's tennis courts were home to occasional exhibition matches featuring some of the biggest names in the game. Among them was Bobby Riggs, the World No. 1 player for three years in the 1940s. Below, Riggs pictured in Tudor City in 1949. Photo and caption from Tudor City View, the community magazine.

Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura and Richard Gonzales ‒ who with Jack Kramer and Frank Parker ‒ constitute the world's foremost professional tennis players, pose on our Tudor City Courts for the benefit of a popular brand of cigarettes. Later, they treated residents to a spectacle of high class tennis. 

Chesterfields ad with Riggs, upper left corner.

We suspect the pros were smoking Chesterfields, which had Riggs under contract at the time.

Riggs abandoned professional tennis in 1951, becoming a promoter, but by the 1970s was back in the game as a shameless hustler and provocateur. His most notorious stunt was a big-payday match against Billie Jean King billed as "The Battle of the Sexes." King won in three sets, a victory that became something of a cultural touchstone for the burgeoning women's liberation movement.

The days of athletes endorsing cigarettes are long gone, as is Riggs, who passed away in 1995. But now he's resurfacing in the culture via a new movie, Battle of the Sexes, opening today. Based on his most famous match, the flick stars Steve Carell as Riggs, and Emma Stone as Billie Jean.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Tennis players on the Tudor City Courts, 1943. View looking north to the parks and The Manor, center.

Tudor City Artifact: THE SCALE MODEL

Hidden in plain sight in No. 5's lobby lies one of Tudor City's most unique artifacts, a scale model of the complex. No one seems to know much about it, but it's believed to have been commissioned by the French Company and displayed in their rental office. The model offers two clues as to its date of manufacture: it depicts the Tudor City Bridge, opened in 1952, as well as the tennis courts, demolished in 1955. Thus, it dates from the early '50s.

Sheathed in plexiglass, it's displayed in the Windsor Tower lobby.

Southerly view showing the bridge and tennis courts, which only co-existed between 1952-1955.

Tudor City Place, looming large.